Statement on Hostilities Towards Iran, 2/12

A new wave of “cold war” style threats and covert actions has started against Iran, this time more serious than in the past. The seventy million people in Iran live every day in fear of a new war. The United States has sold almost $100 Billion of high tech weapons and military equipment to Iran’s neighbors. The American navy moved a second carrier fleet into the Persian Gulf. Western countries have crippling sanctions against Iran in one hand, while providing more military goods to Iran’s enemies on the other.

We at Fellowship OF Reconciliation have worked toward peace and reconciliation between Iran and the United States over the past decade. We have tried to bring the two nations together. We have tried to build bridges of understanding between the two countries. And in this process, we have learned that the Iranian people are a peace loving people who only want friendship. We urge our government to put down their weapons and “unclench their fist” toward Iranians.

In the last decade we lost thousands of our precious sons and daughters to wars. Now that our troops are returning from Iraq and will soon be leaving Afghanistan, we should not send them to another doomsday. Our troops are coming back and it is time to invest in education and jobs in this country. In the past 10 years we have spent $108 Billion per month on war. Now we need to spend our money on development here at home. In the 80s, the Iranian people experienced 8 years of war and destruction on their own soil. They don’t want another war. They have taken a path toward democratization, which will end in the event of a war.

Attacking Iran will destroy our economy and theirs. It will destroy our democracy and will undermine their progress towards democracy. We at Fellowship OF Reconciliation urge our government to immediately stop any movement toward a conflict with Iran. We further condemn any direct or indirect intervention in their domestic business including any existing economic sanctions and any new ones planned.